| "It's been terrific to get
e-mails from readers around the world who enjoyed my book, including a
British soldier serving in Afghanistan," says Freeman, a Carleton College
graduate who worked at Faegre & Benson law firm in Minneapolis until
he turned to full-time writing. He works out of his Woodbury home.
Freeman, who has a background in marketing and public relations,
tells aspiring writers they need to take the business side of their
careers seriously.
"You have to spend time and money building relationships in the
publishing community, working with booksellers and being on the road
meeting and talking to readers," he says. "It's a demanding and exhausting
process that I love."
Freeman will take to the road for a 14-state publicity tour to
promote his second novel, "Stripped" (St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95), a
Literary Guild main selection.
"Stripped" features Stride and Las Vegas police officer Serena
Dial, who find that a hit-and-run and a celebrity murder are linked to a
brutal crime in Las Vegas' past.
"I'm already hard at work on book three, when Stride goes back to
Duluth," Freeman says. "Watch for it in the fall of 2007."
Freeman will read from "Stripped" at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 at Borders,
8472 Tamarack Bay, Woodbury, and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11 at Barnes & Noble
in the Galleria, 3225 W. 69th St., Edina.)
JAY GILBERTSON
It was a beautiful morning in Prairie Farm, Wis., when
Gilbertson talked about his exciting year. He lives on an 80-acre
spread there with his life partner, Ken Seguine.
Gilbertson's thrilled that his debut novel, "Moon Over
Madeline Island," sold out and is into a second printing. And he'd just
received a nice review of his second book, "Back to Madeline Island"
(Kensington Books, $14), which continues the story of Eve Moss and her
friend, Ruby Prevost, who moved to Madeline Island to start an
apron-making business. Eve is a former Wisconsin hairdresser, and Ruby is
her elegant, older best friend.
In "Back to Madeline Island," Gilbertson quietly introduces
some social issues. Eve meets the daughter she gave up for adoption years
earlier, and she starts to raise money for Toad Hollow, a home she
establishes for unwed mothers.
Gilbertson says several women who read the book have
confided to him that they gave up children for adoption, and "they seemed
relieved to be able to talk about it."
He expects there'll be some political issues surrounding Toad
Hollow in his third book: "I like that my writing is moving into everyday
life, but it's just unfolding. I'm not throwing issues at people."
Gilbertson calls his writing "lady lit" because his
characters are more mature than the young women who populate chick-lit
novels. Parts of his books are based on stories he hears from women
clients at his Northeast Minneapolis beauty salon, where he has hosted
parties for book club members.
Although Gilbertson has no formal training as a writer, he
has always been a voracious reader. He sent out more than 400 query
packets for "Moon Over Madeline Island" before a publisher picked it up.
"I have learned so much about publishing this year, especially
about promotion," he says. "Nobody tells you that you have to demand and
pry and write a lot of e-mails." Happily, he got help with press kits and
other materials from Seguine, former global sales director for Horst
Bechelbacher's Intelligent Nutrients company.
Gilbertson says he's more adept at his craft as he works on
his third book. Sometimes, he has such fun writing he forgets he has a
life.
"I'm always thinking about the story now. I'm so aware of what
could be happening with my characters, I sometimes talk about them like
they are in the other room. I have so many ideas I have to carry a
notebook to get them all down."
Much as Gilbertson enjoys writing, he also loves working
with clients at his beauty salon. He works there three days a week and
writes the other three days.
"I'm usually a zombie on Sundays," he admits with a laugh.
ANN BAUER
Bauer celebrated publication of the paperback edition of her book,
"A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards," in June at the first-ever Book Group Expo
in San Jose, Calif., where she met with other writers and readers.
She also started a new phase of life during the Labor Day weekend,
when she married software developer John Gateley on a boat in Lake
Superior owned by Hell's Kitchen restaurant owner Mitch Omer.
A former food writer for Minnesota Monthly, Bauer based "A Wild
Ride Up the Cupboards" on her experiences with her son, who showed
behavior similar to autism when he was 4 years old.
"Having a book published was a lovely experience," she says. "What
surprised me was how supportive and happy people were about my book.
"It was the personal nature of the people writing directly to me
that touched me. Some went through the same experience, others said theirs
was dealing with people addicted to drugs or a failing parent with
Alzheimer's. But the emotions were the same -- the experience of being so
lost in that battle to hang onto the people you love, so consumed by it,
being victorious but not in the way you expected."
The son who inspired Bauer's book is now 18, living with Bauer's
former husband. The young man is doing well in high school and
volunteering at a nursing home. But his mother worries about his ability
to earn a living.
"Some things are harder than I thought they would be for him and
for us as he moves into adulthood," she says. "So many things are assumed
as a kid turns 18, and some of the areas in which he struggles are areas
that will affect him more now that he is an adult than when he was 13.
That was a horrifying surprise for me, and we're finding ways to deal with
that."
One of the problems, Bauer says, is that public schools have
changed so they accept differences, but the adult working world has not
changed.
"These days, many people are using psychological tests to weed out
applicants, and they cut off everyone on the far end of the bell curve,"
she says. "Autism, by definition, puts my son at the far end of that
curve, and so he's immediately kicked out of the candidate pool. People
tend to be inclusive and understanding of the autistic child. But when
they become adults, they are shut out."
In the next few months, Bauer expects to do a lot of book club
talks about "A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards," which sold "quietly and
steadily" in hardcover and is getting renewed life as a paperback.
Mary Ann Grossmann can be reached at mgrossmann@pioneerpress.com or
651-228-5574.
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